Stomping out fraudulent products, one counterfiet at a time!

LOS ANGELES — Porn Guardian co-founder Peter Phinney says that the strategy of his organization’s new Product Piracy Pilot Program is to make it “uncomfortable and [financially] unproductive” for sellers of counterfeit merchandise.

Since 2009, Porn Guardian has been…removing bootleg DVDs from eBay, Amazon and iOffer.

“…we began to see more and more instances of what looked like patent and trademark infringement of pleasure products — specifically toys whose brands we knew that appeared to be knocked off and offered as genuine brand name merchandise but at drastically reduced price points,” Phinney said. “We found that sometimes a well known and carefully built brand name was being used to sell merchandise that was made offshore with inferior components and packaging, but sold as first quality.”

“Occasionally we find a seller who has a wholesale distribution agreement with the manufacturer but is violating the terms of that agreement, occasionally we find a seller who is simply manufacturing knock-offs in a factory in China, and occasionally we find a seller who is using the brand and its reputation to sell merchandise that is not even offered by the company at all, but their trademark name is being used for its marketing value alone.”

Phinney told XBIZ that while eBay.com will remove counterfeit items within hours of reporting them, Amazon.com is slow to come around.

“There does not appear to be any permanent fix to this problem quite yet, but we have been able to effect much deeper searches and provide far earlier notification than manufacturers had been finding themselves with limited in-house resources.

“Our goal is to grow this offering and ultimately provide a vehicle for manufacturers to consider collective action against some of the major players in trademark infringement and counterfeiting,” Phinney said.

For the full story go to http://sportsheets.com/2014/07/09/7-09-2014-stomping-fraud-one-counterfeiter-time/